About

Balios – A Wearable Connecting Rider and Horse

€171,110

pledged of €50,000 goal

942

backers

The Balios sensor™ is the first product of Equisense, a French start-up with the ambition to improve riders’ workout experiences with the help of technology. Balios is a device that attaches to the girth of the saddle. It provides feedback on the horse’s well-being during training sessions as well as training data that can be used to analyze the rider’s progress, both short and long-term.

Balios sensor includes the sensor, the attachment, the usb charger and the mobile app

Even without your smartphone, the Balios sensor automatically tracks each training session and creates a timeline summarizing the type of session, its intensity, and if the horse’s health and fitness level was stable throughout the workout. It helps you diversify your training sessions and adapt routines with respect to set training goals and your horses’ needs.

Sessions calendar with intensity and fitness level sum-up

2. Lameness alerts

It also alerts you immediately in case of lameness.

Get lameness alerts on your smartphone

3. Session reports

During and after each training session, the app provides a summary report:

Session intensity

Lameness level

Time spent at each gait, at each direction

Number of jumps...

Session Report

4. Course tracking

For riders looking for a more detailed analysis, the app will also track in five-minute intervals indicators related to jumping, dressage, endurance, or eventing. This will give you access to an objective feedback report for every exercise you perform during training. Each discipline tracks different indicators:

Course tracking

This specific feature is only available when your smartphone is paired as it relies on its GPS function.

5. Sharing information

The report can be shared with your coach, your veterinarian, or other riders who ride the same horse. This objective data improves the communication between all parties and allows them to adapt their training or treatment to the needs of the horse.

6. Exercise cards

You will have access to simply explained exercise ideas to diversify and improve your workouts. This cards are the product of our partnerships with top riders, trainers, and veterinarians.

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The app will be available in 3 languages

1. Adapted for any type of girth

It is also possible to pin the central part of the attachment directly on the leather for riders who would like to use it more easily.

2. Automatic tracking

Balios starts recording your session report automatically as soon as it detects a specific horse movement – even if your smartphone is not paired with the sensor. It recognizes which horse you are riding and updates each individual calendar accordingly.

The memory space and battery life of the system can last up to a week of intensive training sessions. An LED light will alert you when the battery needs to be recharged or the memory space is close to its full capacity.

LED battery light on latest prototype

As soon as you pair your smartphone with the sensor, the collected data will synchronize and the analysis report is available.

3. Removable and adjustable fastening

The sensor can be attached to any of kind of girth with an adjustable clip. It can also be pinned to the leather directly.

In order to reload the batteries, you can remove your Balios from the attachment.

Balios is for every discipline

Competitive riders

Competitive riders have to stay on top of their horses’ fitness level and training.

The best riders always want to improve their training, and a precise and accurate analysis can help you achieve that.

Conscientious riders

To avoid mistakes when you are alone and adapt the training to your horse’s needs, you need to have an objective look at each workout.

If you share your horse with other riders, you have to be sure to constantly diversify your training.

Coach and staff members

The data can help improve communication between everyone involved in the horse’s care, resulting in a more efficient training.

For all disciplines

Balios can be used for all equestrian disciplines as it is capable of analyzing varied and relevant parameters: jumping, dressage, eventing, endurance, outdoors, Western, etc. The parameters are adapted to the discipline of the analyzed exercise.

Hardware - Electronics

Sensor measuring inertia across 9 axes

Bluetooth 4.0

Rechargeable battery can record up to 8 hours

Mobile app

Compatible with IOS and Android

Over-the-air updates (OTA)

Hardware - Mechanical

Waterproof IP65 and resistant to shocks

Latest prototype

We analyze the horse's movement by reconstructing the gait with accelerometer data.

The different sensor accelerations and rotations allow us to accurately analyze the gait. From that analysis, we can construct the indicators provided in the app. For example, if the propulsion is significantly higher from a diagonal biped to another, then we can detect a horse's lameness

Equisense was inspired from the shared vision of French co-founders, Benoit Blancher, Camille Saute and Idriss Boumaza — three engineers passionate about technology and equestrianism. The initial spark for the project was the plain conviction that riding, like all other sports, will inevitably be driven by technology. As their enthusiasm for the project began to spread within their own respective networks of professional riders, coaches, and veterinarians, it was only a matter of time before they were able to put together the necessary scientific and financial pieces to bring their first product to life: the Balios sensor, a sophisticated device that tracks data from a rider's training session in order to improve his/her workouts while monitoring the horse's well-being.

BenoîtBlancher, President/CEO

Product Design Engineer, University of Technology of Compiègne (UTC)HEC Entrepreneurship Graduate
Tech enthusiast and design lover. "My mission as the CEO is to lead the team and create a great experience for all our users!"

Camille Saute, Director of Science:

Biomechanics, University of Technology of Compiègne (UTC)
Final thesis of sports studies in collaboration with The French Horse and Riding Institute (IFCE) in Saumur, France
"As an algorithm maniac, I form the bridge between horses in movement and usable data in order for you to have accurate and reliable indicators."

Idriss Boumaza, Director of Technology:

Computer Engineer, Engineering School of Information and Digital Technologies (EFREI). Established web entrepreneur
"You’ll never see any trace of my work, because it is precisely my job to ensure that all potential technical frictions are resolved before they’re encountered by our users."

Marine Slove, Product Director:

Veterinarian (Veterinary School of Alfort and CIRALE)
Responsible for the health aspect of the product and marketing
"Because the horse’s well-being is necessary for the rider to progress, I work hard to ensure that our product prevents inadequate or harmful training."

Yoan Tournade, Developer:

Computer Engineer, University of Technology of Compiègne (UTC).
"I spend my days integrating your feedback to bring the perfect final version to life."

Equisense partnered with research centers to develop a useful, reliable, and scientifically approved product:

IFCE: Research center specialized in horse biomechanics

UTC: Elite university and research labs help us with GPS and sensor fusion issues.

VIII. Testimonials

Karim Laghouag - French eventing team member

"The demo is promising. For eventing, we can see the interest in each discipline for the analysis of the courses and tests. This will become essential for people who keep looking to re-evaluate themselves. For the preparation of horses at the highest level, I also see certain interest."

Karim is looking forward to using Balios with a backer of this project and the Equisense team. He will also be giving riding advice to the backer.

Pierre Beaupère – Belgian rider and dressage coach

“I’ve worked on the correction of the natural asymmetry of the horse for several years. With the Balios sensor, finally, I’ll be able to measure the results of our efforts, understand which method is better for each horse, and follow the progress of every horse.”

Emeric George – Member of French Jumping Team

"Balios gives me the option to objectively relive a route. Today’s prototype demo was unbelievable. I think that once the final product is finished, it is going to be part of many riders’ daily practices."

Pilar Lucrecia Cordon – Member of Spanish Jumping Team

"Balios enables me to keep an objective eye on my sessions. It helps me to adapt my horse’s work to the competition schedule. Balios is going to become a necessary tool for those who want to be the best."

Cedric Morandin – French dressage rider

“The prototype demo impressed me. The extracted data is major for training at any level. Cadence, impact of the landing, and regularity are indicators on which we are judged on, and Balios helps us improve them all.”

Ramzy Al Duhami - Top 30 Jumping Rider, saudi arabia team

"I would like to thank Equisense for developing such a program. It allows us to have the final result of our training everyday, to follow every horse, and to share it with the vet as well."

Jérôme Ringot - jumping rider

“I’m very interested in this new technology. It allows an analysis of the training, so we know if we’re doing the right thing. It informs us if the time spent working in each direction is balanced, if the cadence and the gait size are accurate, and if the pace is regular. These are the basics of our equestrian education. I think it’s only the beginning of a training method. It’s time to associate the thousand-year equestrian tradition with modern technologies. And the horses will benefit from it. So I’ll keep a close eye on this team.”

Risks and challenges

French version below.

English version :
We are really excited about launching the first connected sensor for horseback-riding fanatics. However, the most important aspect of this project is that we fulfill our promise to you, since it is you who is placing your trust in our team!

We’ve put a lot of work into developing our algorithms, as well as designing and building the first prototypes. These early models have demonstrated that the core technology works well and that we have a great team and partners supporting the vision. However, as a hardware project we are also aware that there will be challenges of manufacturing, production, international shipping, and more. Our promise is that we'll rise to meet all these challenges and more with the combined experience and passion our team brings to this project.

We've given a conservative estimate for our delivery dates. We are committed to keeping you informed of our progress both during and following our campaign. Rest assured that we are all working very hard to produce a sensational product that will not only arrive on time but will give you a great riding experience!